About 80 million people took cheap flights to France last year, making it the world's most popular tourist destination. As well as the hexagonal-shaped country in Western Europe and the island of Corsica, France has a number of overseas territories: Martinique, Guadeloupe, Reunion and French Guiana.
For many, the mere idea of fetching fresh bread from the local boulangerie, seeing the Eiffel Tower up close or catching the scent of the lavender fields in the South of France is enough to spark travel to France. More than anyone else, it seems, the French know how to live, appreciating the value of simple fare and raising the production of bread, cheese and wine to near art forms.
It's a country of wonderful diversity, about 80 per cent of it is countryside. The beaches and fishing villages of the west coast, the small towns of the east, the towering snow-capped Alps in the south east, the densely forested and river-crossed Massif Central in the south and the Spain-bordering Pyrenees in the south west, not to mention the south of France - le Midi - that region of ritzy resort towns and historic cities.
Paris, the capital, is one of the most enchanting cities. Its gilded streets, splendid buildings, stylish locals, and reputation as a city for lovers ensures its place on the visit-before-you-die lists. Lourdes, the small town in the foothills of the Pyrenees, welcomes more than five million religious tourists each year, while many Australians make a pilgrimage to the the key battlefields in France to pay their respects to the 48,000 men who were killed on the Western Front.